Nintendo pulls the plug on the Wii U's TVii service

When Nintendo released its Wii U console in 2012, it included a little feature that promised to “transform how people find, watch and engage with TV shows, movies and sports.” It was called TVii, and it even got its own dedicated button on the Wii U Gamepad. Now, less than three years later, Nintendo is pulling the plug.

The product was an unusual one for Nintendo, which, unlike Sony, has never really tried to use its consoles gain a foothold in the home theater market. (The GameCube, Wii, and Wii U can’t even play DVDs.) But TVii sought to change that — the second-screen app let users search through the catalogs of streaming video services and peruse the TV guide right from the Gamepad. It even had customized recommendations and an odd…